


Signed or Sealed

by Rockyroll



Category: Dawson's Creek
Genre: Dawson is awful, Dawson/Joey only for comparison and plot, F/M, Joey and Dawson are together but its bad, PJ belong together, Unplanned Pregnancy, pj babies are adorable, seals are cute, spoiler: selkies, tags will likely be added, these tags probably don't help
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:40:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29550144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rockyroll/pseuds/Rockyroll
Summary: Joey is trapped in a loveless marriage of convenience to Dawson Leery, but she has a lover. One who, for reasons beyond either of their control, could never be the partner she needs. They can only see each other once a month, when he finally takes the form he was born with and can love her the way she deserves.
Relationships: Dawson Leery/Joey Potter, Joey Potter/Pacey Witter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So far I have three chapters of this written and a whole story outlined. I don't know if I'll continue to write it or not, but I wanted to at least gauge interest and see what ya'll thought of the premise. I've never had a beta so there are probably typos, but ya'll get the idea.  
> Warning: it gets sexually explicit pretty much right away.

The boat was boarded and the sails were still tucked away when she arrived, but she was early so she expected that. She used the last of the rays to help her open the cabin and raise her sails. She checked and inspected her ropes and equipment by rote before she lowered her tiller into the water and set sail for the darkening horizon. 

She dropped the anchor just twenty minutes later, still just barely in sight of the harbor. She glanced over the water, but saw no significant ripples or waves that might indicate a visitor, and so she shrugged and began to prepare the cabin the way she likes it. The way they both like it. First, the made the bed with the special blanket she purchased for nights like this. She fluffed the pillows and set out battery lit lanterns that looked like candlelight, but still her visitor did not arrive. She felt needy and aimless and frustrated. She didn’t want to waste even a single moment she could be with him. So, she began to undress. She considered keeping on the the little black number she had worn under her clothes, but she felt too hot even in that. The moment the soft fabric hit the floor of the cabin, she felt the boat rock to the side heavily. He was here. 

She took her position on the bed, her ass to the door as she waited for him to arrive. The cabin door entered and she could hear his soft moan of appreciation at the sight before him. 

She widened her knees on the thin mattress, showing him everything. She could feel cold air lick between her legs and she imagined she could feel the blue dip of his gaze in her most private center. A moment later, the bed dipped as he neared her, his heat seeped into her thighs and his breath whistled over her ear. She pushed her ass backward, searching blindly for any part of him. 

“So impatient. When was the last time you had your pretty little cunt filled?” The vibration of his voice had a liquid effect she felt as a trickle sliding down her slit.

“Last month.” She breathed and moaned as she arched her back further in desperate invitation.

“Last month? Hmm, that’s funny. It's been exactly one month from the last time I took you. Are you telling me he didn’t come to you once since then?”

“He did. He tried, but he couldn’t…” Explanations felt impossible with the rush of blood in her ears.

His laugh was choppy and short. She wanted to ask him what was so funny, but then he finally put his large, hot hands over her ass cheeks, massaging and pulling her apart, sweet wet sounds filled the cabin as her labia shifted with the movement. 

"Dawson couldn't get an erection for his soulmate, huh? Isn't that perfect," but his growl didn't indicate genuine humor. Nor did the bruising grip on her ass. 

"I don't want to talk about Dawson," Joey squeaked through the pleasurable pain.

There was silence and then Joey started to wonder if he would push the subject of her and Dawson's sham of a marriage as he did every month.

“And did you get your period this month, Jo?” He reached between her legs and encompassed the soft, slightly stretched skin below her belly button. He kneaded softly, as if he could read the state of her uterus with his palm.

“Fuck. I put another baby in you, didn't I?” he asked in a vulnerable whimper. His hands slid up her sides to her shoulders and he pulled her up to her knees so that her back was flush with his chest. She could feel the sparse hair on his chest tickling her back, his stomach lifting with each heavy breath and his cock took it’s rightful place between her legs, resting in the perfect triangle of her pussy and two thighs. 

She turned her neck at an angle to meet his eyes. “Yes, we’re pregnant again,” she whispered. 

He crossed his arms around her, one covered her breasts and the other he shifted down to gently embrace her womb. He kissed her shoulder and then her arm as she reached up and around his neck. She ran her finger tips over his dark curls as he worshiped her neck. They stayed that way, on their knees on the thin mattress for minutes until he finally moved his hands to her hips and turned her around to face him. His large fingers framed her face and he fussed with her hair before laying his forehead over hers. He sighed heavily, closing his eyes as if to shut out the pain he would inflict on himself at his own words.

“You need to try harder, Jo. He’s gonna realize this baby isn’t his either." His eyes were serious and Joey couldn't help but shake her head in her attempt to deny the truth of his statement. He rubbed her nose with his gently and then pulled back. His vulnerability was placed back into a safe corner of his heart, his head tilted to the side, his eyes all challenge. When he spoke again, his voice was low and course. "You have to seduce him, Jo. Get him hard for you. Let him fuck you.” 

Joey's jaw set in response. “Is that what you want, Pacey?" She breathed into his mouth as she spoke. "You want him to bend me over like you’re about to do? Fill me with his come so that it seeps out of me? You want me to moan when he splits me open? Take his co-”

“Enough,” his hands left her face and slapped her ass as he pulled her up and quieted her with a hard kiss. “You know I don’t want that," he growled back and nipped her lip. 

She gasped, but recovered quickly. “Hmm, he’s telling me otherwise,” she reaches behind her and slides two fingers over the tip of his arousal where it's length is nestled in the olive globes of her ass. Her fingers spread his pre-come around and he thrusted into her hand. 

“No, he’s telling you you’re ours and we’re about to show you how much.” 

She twisted out of his grip and lay on her back with her hands cupping her breasts and her knees closed, hiding herself from him. He took a moment, raking his eyes over her. Her rich auburn hair spilled over the pillow, her glowing hazel eyes looked more green in the low light created by the fire. The slope of her tanned shoulders with a hint of pink at the tops teased him with their beauty. Summer had recently arrived in Capeside and it was written all over her body. Her nose is pink too, but it’s fading into a tan. How he wished he could see her rosiness in the sun like he used to, but the form he takes in the day can’t see in color except for the greens and blues of the ocean.

Her breasts were huge, spilling and out around her narrow fingers and he nearly chuckled at the memory of when he’d first had the pleasure of her breasts in his hands and mouth. They had barely filled his palm then and he could fit a whole tit in his mouth, scraping and tugging. He’d given her first orgasm with a single finger slipping over her while deeply and roughly suckingly on her left tit. 

When he’d gotten her pregnant two years ago, her breasts doubled in his hands as her belly grew with their child and after she was born even a gentle squeeze could send a steady torrent of milk dripping between them, mixing into the fluid she made when he pounded her just the right way. 

Slight inspection showed now that her soft stomach was more rounded than usual, bu not in an obvious way. Only somebody intimate with her body would be able to tell that the skin just under her belly button had grown slightly more taught in the last month. Somebody like him. 

He frowned when his eyes drifted down and found her closed legs were blocking his view and he couldn’t allow it. His hands caressed her knees, but he didn't pull them apart. Instead, he met her eyes, his blue eyes endless and serious and said just one word. 

“Open.” 

She swallowed at his tone and obeys, shifted her knees to the side and as she did her skin lit up in a pink glow from the curly hair protecting his treasure to the tips of her adorable ears. 

“Always so shy,” he smirks at her. “What do you think I’ll do? Pull away? Leave you?” 

“You have before.”

“Only when you have clothes on,” he reasoned. 

“Oh, shut up,” she rolled her eyes and he quirked an eyebrow at her. She smirked up at him. "You know you love it. The back and forth"

"The sweetness and the sarcasm," he completed softly and then slowly lowered his body to hers and began to press kisses between her breasts, still caged in by her fingers. He turns his head enough to nibble on a fingertip. His mouth finds its way to the crease between her fingers, relentlessly tonguing the sensitive bit of flesh until her hand relaxes. He swiftly takes advantage of the newly released skin and roughly sucks a nipple into his mouth. 

Joey's fingers worked their way through the thick muscles of his biceps and shoulders, but when he nipped she sunk her nails into his skin. He ran the tip of his nose between her breasts and let it delve into her belly button as he kissed the skin that protected their newly conceived child. He sent a private prayer to whomever would listen that it would be another girl. As perfect and beautiful as Dylan, as Joey, and not male. Not with the gene that turned him into the beast he usually was. 

When he finally worked his lips over the soft, hairless skin of her labia he had only to slide his closed mouth over her, enjoying the slick she had created with the anticipation of them being together.

“Oh my...I didn’t realize how wet I got, sorry...I…” He successfully shut off her apology when he began to graze his teeth over her clit. At times like this, Pacey always felt a little guilty a little gluttonous. He knew, in theory, that eating her out was supposed to be for her pleasure, but while he knew she enjoyed it, he knew he got more pleasure out of it than she did. His cock strained against the bed. He could feel a wet spot forming from his precum as he licked and drank from her. He wanted more than anything to take himself in his hand while he feasted, but she needed more than that. He lapped and sucked roughly for a few more seconds and then he pulled he shifted onto his hands and knees over her. She turned and presented herself to him once more, finding himself in the same situation they were in when their night began. He pulls her delicate, glistening lips apart once more and finally fills her. He’s in no hurry, but he’s not slow, enjoying and chasing the delicious drag of their most sensitive skin. 

“God, you feel amazing, Joey. Always, every time. So fucking good. You’re so good.” 

Joey doesn’t respond with words, but her sex leaks around his cock. He held her hips, his thumbs pulling the globes of her ass apart so he could see himself spreading her. He pulled himself out almost completely, letting the thick ridge of the head of his cock manipulate the thin membranes of her cunt, so that he could see the shape of himself inside of her. 

“I wish I could give you my cock every night, Joey. I wish I could fill you-”

“Yes, Pace, fill me,” she cried urgently, desperately attempting to lift her hips to him. “I need more, please, please.”

“Fill you, baby?” he teased, keeping his thrusts shallow.

“Yes, yes, fill me, more,” she nodded, her eyes pleading as her gaze bore into his. 

“With my cock? Like this?” he thrust deeper, but held back an inch.

“No!” she screamed her desperation growing into a rage, “more, Pacey!” 

He stopped denying her, and finally gentled his fingertips on flesh at her sides. “Take what you need baby,” he loved teasing her, getting her riled up and flushed pink, but the truth was, he couldn’t let her take control yet or he would finish before he was ready, before she deserved. His control was slipping, though, and he needed to give himself over to the pleasure. 

He let her, encouraged her, to fuck herself on him and allowed his hands to roam over the body he so loved, but rarely got a chance to touch. Her angle changed as her engorged clit began to rub over his shaft at every pass and he knew she was close. He grabbed his base when he started feel his balls tighten and was barely able to reign himself in long enough before she was screaming and streaming her clear, liquid cum all over him. He let go, his length growing even more rigid and earning him another squirt from her before he finally emptied himself inside her.

They collapsed on the bed, not caring about the wet spots on the sheet or their soaked skin as they glided through their releases and drifted back to reality. It hit them both at the same time. 

They turned to each other, each with glistening eyes and held each other tight, arms and legs tangling to hold each other as close as possible. 

“Don’t leave me again, Pacey,” she begged.

“I don’t want to, Jo.”

“Then don’t. Just don’t,” she shook her head, denying their inevitable separation into his shoulder.

“I’m sor-”

“Just lie, Pacey. Just lie and tell me you’ll stay with me.” 

He sighed and considered. “I made you a promise, Joey. I’ll never lie to you, no matter how much I hate that you hurt.” 

“I know,” she sighed. 

Pacey rolled her over and removed the blanket underneath them and wiped them both off until they were reasonably dry, if not reasonable un-sticky, and threw a clean blanket over them both. He tucked her back into the safety of his arms before he spoke again. 

“I love you, Jo. I love you and I love Dylan and I already love the new bean, but I hate what this is.” 

Joey pushed herself up on her elbow and peered into his eyes. “What are you saying? You want to end this?”

He shook his head. “No, Joey. I tried that before.”

“Then…”

“Then nothing. I’m just telling you how I feel. I wish I could change it, but…”

Joey nodded her head in understanding and then ducked her head back into his shoulder.

In the early morning, before the sun stole him away again, Pacey woke Joey to take her again, needing to feel her warmth once more before he was stolen back to the cold depths where he spent most of his life now.

Afterward, chased by daylight, they jumped into the cold water. As the first light of the day broke over the horizon and she felt him behind her shifting, cold and soft. The water moved and pushed her away a little as his mass more than tripled. She didn’t turn to look at him, even when she felt him pushing her toward the boat with his wide, whiskered muzzle. As she climbs up the ladder into the boat. He launched his heavy, dark grey form up and gave her a wet kiss on her ass. She squealed and hurried up the ladder and then, finally, she turns around to greet his selkie for, but before she could lay eyes on him, she was met with a splash of water from his side flipper. 

“Pacey!” she admonishes her transformed lover with a laugh. He stares back, his large, bulky body unmoving in the water. She sighs and then sets to work, lifting the anchor and setting up the sails. She looks around again and sees that Pacey is now on the starboard side of the boat and still watching her. "What?" she asks the massive speckled beast and she wondered how she can know that he’s laughing at her.

He disappeared under the water once more and reappeared closer to her, tilting his head and eyeing her with luminescent wide eyes until she got the idea and looked down at herself realizing she was naked. She rolled her eyes, even as she blushed, and disappeared below deck . A moment later she reappeared wearing the Bruin’s Jersey she kept there.

"Better?" She asked him and she swore that he winked back. Her humor quickly dissipated, however, as the finality of their monthly rendezvous hit her. It would be another long month before she felt his warm hands cradle her head as he presses his mouth against her, reawakening a part of her that only sings and lives for him. Maybe next time she would greet him like that. Wearing all of her clothes and letting him unwrap her like a present. 

“See ya,” she called to him and he bobbed once and then disappeared under the water. She sighed and turned her eyes toward the shoreline before hoisting her anchor, opening the sails and maneuvering the tiller back to Capeside. 


	2. Half Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawson and Joey have a scene together and it's...not great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is definitely sexually explicit and has dubious consent between Joey and Dawson. Sorry, it's gross, it's sort of supposed to be that way. Hopefully, it furthers the story and character development for ya'll. 
> 
> What? Ya'll thought this was just gonna be pure smut? Yeah, well that's what I thought when I was writing it too, but...things change?

Joey slipped out of Dylan’s room and into the one she shared with Dawson. He was already in bed, his reading glasses low on his nose and the glare of the screen shone on his face, turning it bluish-green. 

“Hey,” she called softly as she rounded the foot of the bed. She crawled on her hands and knees toward him, shifting her breasts between her arms to maximize her cleavage. She straddled his legs and peered over the top of his laptop at him.

“Hmm, just a second,” he murmured, his forehead wrinkled as he attempted to focus on the screen. She sat up a little higher and draped her barely covered breasts over the top of the screen. 

“Jo…” He finally looks up at her. His annoyance melts away and in it’s place is amusement at the sight of her dark pink mouth and matching blush high on her cheeks. His small smile grows as gaze drifts over her. “Jo,” he says again, as if he’s surprised by the sight of her. As if he just recognized her on the street after a year's absence.

“Dawson,” she said in a mocking surprise. Her head quirked to the side, but he frowned instead of laughed at her teasing and brings his eyes back to his screen. 

“I’m not really in the mood to be mocked” he said, his tone suddenly hard. Joey had trouble, sometimes, keeping up with his fickle moods. Even though she was supposed to know him best, his supposed ‘soulmate,’ she found more and more that she had to enter the water gently with him. Not a single splash could be made. She paused and then regrouped. 

“Good. Because I’m in the mood for something else,” she insisted. His eyes came up to her, narrowed. 

“Why?” he asked. She tried really hard not to ruffle his feathers normally, but now she was irked. 

“Why?” she questioned his question. “Do I have to have reason to want intimacy with my husband?” 

“Maybe.” Joey swallowed. Fuck, was he calling her bluff? She thought quickly about what she instinctively wanted to do; get defensive, and decided to do the exact opposite. 

“Dawson,” she tipped her head to the side and nearly whispered his name with as much softness as she could conjure. “I’m sorry I’ve been so busy with Dylan. I realized today that we haven’t really had any time together...maybe for months.” 

Dawson sighed and closed the computer, reaching to the side table and setting it carefully away and Joey allowed herself a tiny smile of triumph before he turned back to face her. 

“You’re right, Jo. Come here.” He sighed and his fingers slipped up her sides as she lowered herself to him. Her nose slotted to the right and Joey was grateful it was already so unlike Pacey who, due to his left-handedness, leaned left. She had the sudden realization that the difference in the two relationships could be understood through the difference in their kiss. Kissing Dawson came easily. She didn’t have to think at all. Kissing Pacey was intentional, she had to be completely present when she was with him as she tried to memorize every moment.

Sure enough, after the requisite kiss, Dawson turned her over on the bed and pressed his mouth hard on hers. She let her jaw go slack and followed his lead as her mind wandered again. Pacey’s kisses were demanding in a different way. He didn’t guide, he coaxed. He surprised her and challenged her expectations. Every encounter with Pacey felt different than the last. Memorable.

Dawson shifted over her, placing his knees on either side of her hips so that he could balance while he pulled her shirt up and over her head. With the fabric gone, his eyes drifted over her chest and he scraped his fingernails gently over her shoulder blades

“Did you nurse Dylan before putting her down?” he asked. 

“Mhhmm,” she nodded.

“Good,” he drew his nails under her breasts, “I hate when it gets messy.” He smiled at her as if they were sharing a conspiratorial joke. 

“Yeah,” she smiled back demurely. Pacey loved it messy, she thought, as she closed her eyes and Dawson began to pluck at her nipples. It was embarrassing and wrong, but in the height of desire, when Pacey would pull her on top of him and encourage her to get loud and sloppy, he’d reach up expertly knead and pull until a spray of milk would splatter over his chest. He would lick his lips when she angled it over his face and she’d even splintered into an orgasm once just with the erotic thought that he could fill her with his come and she’s fill him with her milk. 

Thinking of it now made her frown and maybe that was why the warmth of Dawson’s hands left her. When she opened her eyes, she was met with the unexpected greeting of Dawson’s cock inches from her face. 

“Suck me, Joey.” His voice was soft, but full of demand and maybe even a little anger. She opened her mouth to retort, suddenly uncomfortable with his lack of care for her, but he took it as an invitation and shoved the head of his cock into her mouth. Her lips were dry and he didn’t make much progress, but Dawson moaned in ecstasy anyway. When he pulled out, she wet her lips and gathered saliva in her mouth so she was ready when he thrust back in, further this time. She brought her hand up to control the depth of his intrusion. She looked up at him with wide eyes, the way she knew he liked and in response he sneered and combed his fingers of one hand through her hair roughly. 

When she turned her face away, he slapped her lightly across the cheek. “Don’t turn away from me, Joey,” but he unstradled her face and grabbed her hips, instead of persisting with fucking her face, and stood next to the bed. “Turn around, show me your sluttly little pussy.” 

She obeyed immediately, turning around and presenting herself to him. He wasted no time, grabbing her hips and pulling her to the edge of the bed and pushing himself inside of her with no warning at all. 

Joey gasped and buried her face in her hands. She hadn’t been ready, but she just wanted this to be over. 

“God, you’re so tight on me, Joey. It’s hard to even get my dick in you. Fuck.” 

She flexed her inner muscles, making her channel almost impossible to penetrate, squeezing him so hard that, as she predicted, it was over in a matter of three thrusts. The first pump of his seed spilled inside of her, but then, before she could stop him, he pulled out and finished over her lower back as he groaned and shook with his pleasure. Joey swallowed down a little bit of bile, possibly from morning sickness, but more likely caused by the unpleasant, wet feel of her husband’s spunk on her ass and his hairy legs pushed up again her’s. She shuddered and Dawson laughed, mistaking it for her own orgasm over taking her.

“You’re always so quiet when you, come,” he said. He flopped down next to her in the bed and then looked over at her as she shifted away to clean herself up. “Shit, Joey. I think I came in you a little bit,” Dawson gritted through another after shock.

“It’s okay. I just had my period, I doubt I’m fertile right now.” It was a half lie. A half truth. 

“Oh, right, okay.” Dawson blew out a long breath of air in obvious relief and then his body relaxed, letting the endorphins from his orgasm wash over him. “Don’t you love it when I get forceful like that?” he chuckled at their inside joke. 

“Mmmhmm,” she said as she finished wiping herself off with the wipes she kept by the bedside table.

“Hey, Joey?”

“Yeah, Dawson?” She tried her very best to keep her voice light, but even she could hear the hint of annoyance in it. Thankfully the recent orgasm was enough to quell any retaliation from his part. 

“Isn’t that what you said last time? That you’d just had your period?”

“Oh,” she pretended to think, “I guess so.”

“It’s okay with me, you know. If I did knock you up again.” 

The bile rose again in Joey's throat. “Oh yeah?” 

“Yeah.” He took a breath and smiled at her, almost sweetly. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her, so full of love. It was a rare look and it was times like these that Joey remembered why she married him in the first place. Even if she wasn’t in love with him, she had truly grown to love him. First as a dear friend and later as a partner. The lover bit had always left something to be desired, but then that wasn’t the most crucial thing in a marriage anyway, she’d figured. Dawson turned away from her and his breathing soon evened out. 

Joey blew out a breath and then got up to turn off the lights and tuck his laptop more securely out of the way so that he didn’t accidentally step on it or drop it in the morning and then she closed herself into the attached bathroom and did her best to wash him off her.


	3. Beginning of the End of the beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years ago...because this is fan fiction and you're allowed to do prologues. (Ain't nobody trying to get published up in here, folks)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little sad, a little sweet. No smut in this chapter. Short and bittersweet.

Mrs. Witter's tears dripped down Joey's light blue sweater, stinging her as they fell in rivulets down her back. The older woman pulled away suddenly, her cool fingers framed Joey's cheeks.

"Joey, it's not true. It's not true. Not Pacey," the woman's face crumpled even as she searched Joey's hazel eyes for anything that could be construed as hope. "Tell me, Joey. You have...you have..." but when Joey could only shake her head, her own eyes filling with hot, salty proof of her son's demise, her voice faltered again as the tight band that had been holding her heart together for the last three weeks since Pacey’s disappearance finally snapped. 

"I'm..I'm so sorry Mrs. Witter. I just..." Joey looked helplessly at the two young coast guard officers in the living room, their faces neutral, but their shoulder's uncomfortably high. 

The shorter of the two came forward, a wooden box in his hands with an anchor engraved on it. "Ma'am, in situations like these we bring the family anything significant we could find in the wreckage. We hope that it brings you some solace at this difficult time. He held out the box to Mrs. Witter, who shuddered and collapsed onto her knees wailing. 

Joey swallowed the impossible lump risking in her chest and stepped forward in her stead. 

"Thank you," was all that Joey could muster as she took on the burden of the last fragments of the boy she loved, all contained in one pine box. Her brow crumpled in confusion as she studied the brass clasp.

"Ma'am," the officers said in unison before they turned toward the door. Joey looked up at them, still unable to fully understand what was happening, and watched them, her body stiff and painful from denial of her own heartbreak, trying to be strong for Wiley's mom. 

The officers had nearly closed the front door behind them when Joey lurched out of her frozen state. She set the box down on the coffee table behind her and called out to them, "Wait, wait just one second."

"Ma'am?" the shorter one spoke again, his cap-covered head reappearing in the partially opened doorway. 

"Where...where did he...where did the  _ Ever After _ wash up?" 

"Out by Chatham lighthouse, Ma'am." 

"Oh," she said in a high, tight voice and nodded, as if this explained so much when, in fact, it explained nothing at all. It felt all the more senseless. Was it not enough that Pacey was gone along with the  _ Ever After _ , his 'other love' as he'd often referred to her, but now their spot was tainted too. Or maybe it was fitting. Nothing made sense. Her nodding chin gradually changed momentum and she found her head moving from side to side as she stared into the officer's steel-blue eyes.

"I was there, when the wreckage was called in and when we started pulling pieces out of the water. Have you been there before, ma'am? It's beautiful." The taller of the two finally spoke up, pulling the door open a little more to address her. 

"Yes," she said. "Pacey and I like to," she started, finally feeling the flow of tears breach the dam she'd built up over the preceding weeks. "We like to..." she gasped, suddenly realizing she couldn't finish her sentence. 

He nodded sadly. "I'm so sorry for your loss ma'am," he said and then he turned and closed the door gently behind him. 

The following weeks were hell for Joey. Only three weeks remained of the school year, but instead of attending her senior prom with her high school sweetheart in her strapless lavender dress, she sat in a pew with her father and sister and wore the only black dress in her closet from her grandmother's funeral two years prior. 

She couldn't help but think about how much Pacey would have raised a lecherous eyebrow at the snug-fitting backside. He would have stepped up behind her, pulling her by the hips into his front, wrapping his arms around her waist, dragged his lips over the shell of her ear, and murmured, "God, I'm a lucky son of a bitch." 

Her daydream was almost enough to make her smile, until her heart lurched at the realization that she would never again feel his rough fingertips on her skin or hear his deep, slightly scratchy voice. The smile that had begun to form quickly collapsed as her chin dimpled and her chest heaved, ugly sobs wracked her body as she fell toward her sister, who held her firmly and simply rocked her through the funeral service she attended instead of her prom

. 

After graduation, Joey left for a summer internship in Boston and insisted that her father and Bessie visit her there instead of coming home. And so it was that on Christmas day, her first Christmas without him, she found herself at the mooring where his boat belonged.

"God, Pacey. I'm so mad that you're gone. It's been eight months and I can barely think about it without being so fucking mad at you," but even as she spoke, the familiar strain in her chest made her words tight. She was on the precipice of tears again and, fuck, it pissed her off even more. She stood up suddenly and brought her hands to her hips. "I hate you so much, William Pelty and I just...I just miss you so much, love." Her hands collapsed over her heart as she held the organ inside of her so that it wouldn't jump into the ocean where it belonged. 

She was about to turn to go, but she remembered the package in the pocket of her long, black parka. "Merry Christmas, Pacey," she said. She bent down and let the package plop the remaining foot into the black, shimmering water below. 

Joey inhaled the salty air and breathed her pain out so that she could see the steam drift off over the ocean and her chest loosened just a little. She trudged down the wooden pier toward the dim light of their small town. She almost made it, one step at a time, back to the sleepy town. She resisted, willing her shoulders square and face front, but the sound of slapping water and wet splash against the wooden dock had her heart leaping and her body turning back. 

Glassy eyes reflected the moon back to her, like tiny headlights and for a moment Joey only stared, trying to make sense of what she saw. She squinted and a round grey outline haloed around the two matching beams. The lights blinked at her and then a splash and the seal, for that Joey was sure that was what she had seen, disappeared. 

Joey stared after where she was sure the creature had just been for a moment, but when nothing appeared, she found herself walking back to the dock. Two steps onto the creaking, wooden slats, she looked over one side and then the other, but it wasn’t until she took her third step that she heard the bubbles. 

Looking to her left, she was startled to see the dark, spotted face of a large grey seal staring up at her. His white whiskers, quivered, but his expression was entirely still. 

“Hi there,” she whispered. Growing up by the cape, Joey had had plenty of interactions with seals, mostly friendly, but she had seen male seals fight, had seen blood coursing off their pelts and the damage their teeth could do. She could see that this seal was clearly male, based on his dark coloring and long, wide nose. His head wasn’t that much larger than a human’s really, but she knew that a five hundred pound body lurked beneath the black water. 

He blinked back at her. “Did you see my present down there?” she asked conversationally, if not a little nervously.

He blinked once more. 

“I used to, um...God, I’m talking to a seal,” she chuckled at herself and then immediately frowned at herself. “Now I'm talking to a seal about talking to a seal. Great.” 

Joey buried her face in her hands, attempting to rub awareness and rational thought via the heels of her palms in her eyes. When she looked again, she was almost surprised he was still there, still staring at her. She sighed, in relief or defeat, she wasn’t sure. 

“Well, you’re still here. Maybe you don’t mind sticking around for a while? I kind of didn't want to be alone tonight.”

He blinked and then moved backward a little and then let his belly float to the surface, the picture of repose from a friend ready to listen. 

“Well, thank you , sir, don’t mind if I do,” she sat on the dock and crossed her legs under her. “I’ve really lost it, you know.” 

He snorted a little, but remained attentive. “You see, I lost someone. In the very body of water. This...this was his mooring,” she smiled a little, making eye contact and then rolling her eyes at herself again. “Why are you still here? I don’t have any fish to give you.” 

The seal turned over three hundred and sixty degrees and when his head reemerged he immediately squirted her with what seemed like half a gallon of seawater from his mouth directly on to her t-shirt.

“Ugh! Gross, I thought you my friend!” She laughed and then peeled her wet t-shirt off, leaving her in just a bra and cut off denim shorts. When she looked back at him, he was waggling his eyebrows at her. “Oh, I see what’s going on here. You’re a pervert! A perverted seal...well, that’s certainly...new,” she laughed. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’m not his easy and this show ain’t free.” 

Joey made her way back to her house, but she felt lighter than she had in months. She wondered at the odd feeling inside her chest and realized it was akin to happiness. She smiled at little and held her palms to her chest, attempting to trap the feeling inside of her body.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what ya'll thought. Do we like selkies? I've never written a supernatural/fantasy type fic before, so this genre is pretty new to me.


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